Month: February, 2010

Between receiving his Oscars & the Grammys and putting up with the outpouring of adulation,both nationally and internationally,not to mention a Padma Bhushan thrown in for good measure Rahman found solitude,or so it seems,to get back to work.The result of this work is Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya which has also been re-created in telugu as Ye Maaya Chesave.

Let me be outright at the very outset-Ye Maaya Chesave is Rahman’s finest in a long long time in the sense that his style of composing is more unshackled and indulgent.I listened to the tamil versions for so long,my poor understanding of the lyrics notwithstanding,that I have sort of internalized and assimilated them.So,in a way,the only thing that was new with this was the lyrics part which I feel is a bit uneven and inconsistent.Anantha Sriram is a promising writer but here he only delivers in parts,a few inspired bursts like the opening lines of Vintunnavaa and a few lines from Kundanapu Bomma but largely deficient in character.

Otherwise,it is Rahman all the way who powers this soundtrack on the sole merit of some wondrous tunes and some equally fascinating layered music.The composer foists a surprise in Aaromale,an inimitable song which is punch drunk on psychedelia and Pink Floyd.The Malayalam lyrics,of which I couldn’t make head or tail of,imbibe it with an alluring,almost exotic touch while Alphonse soldiers on like a born again Jim Morrison.The swasthi swasthi sumuhurtam…refrains add to its unusual feel.

Ee Hridayam drifts amorphously like a feather caught in the cross currents of a breeze.Utterly pleasant and serene to the core,the listeners hosanna for an infectious song does find deliverance here.The lyrics are few and far between and even the tune is pretty simple but Rahman makes it something different altogether with the expansive,wind swept and often tumultuous orchestration.

Aaksasam is the only dissapointment with a hardly enthusing tune.

Kunadanapu Bomma is the most ambrosial song of the lot.The singing is leisurely without any particular form or cast but is totally addictive,and I’m not even talking about the scintillating hypnotic pallavi here,once one comes to grips with it.The orchestration,meanwhile,is a pure outworldly experience with the nadaswaram(in Bilahari),and nothing less, doing the star turn.Precious.Kalyani’s raagic interjection is another high point.

Manasa is another uptempo song that could have done with some better lyrics though that doesn’t take away much from the dextrous amalagamations of sound that Rahman so elegantly fuses.There is a christian marriage choir seguing into,for god’s sake!,hindu wedding chimes even as a constant probing from the mridangam plays throughout.

Swaasye plays out in a coldly dirge like fashion,Rahman music is brilliantly analogous to that of heavy exhalations and inhalations summed up by frosty,organic acoustic arrangements in the backdrop,with Karthik’s reticent vocals trickling down like dew off the grass.

Vintunnavaa is another song where Rahman conveniently does away with the pre-ordained,proper song structure.Shreya ambles languorously sounding as nectar like as ever without betraying even to the slightest that her vocals are being tested in this rather cruel tune,while Karthik,who arguably gets the best lines,polishes off those long passages of riposte’ with a flourish.